Rutgers Women's Soccer Team to Open NCAA Tournament at West Virginia

The Rutgers University women’s soccer team is back in the NCAA tournament.

The Scarlet Knights open play in the 2013 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Tournament on Friday at West Virginia, 7 p.m.

The Mountaineers (16-3-2) won the Big 12 championship with a 1-0 win over Oklahoma State this weekend.

“We’re very excited to have been selected and privileged to be an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament,” Rutgers coach Glenn Crooks said in a prepared statement. 

Rutgers (13-4-4) made the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive season for only the second time in the history of the program. It is their third at-large bid to the tournament in the last five years.

The Scarlet Knights also made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2008 and 2009.

They fell to Virginia, 6-1, in the second round of last year’s tournament.

Junior Stef Scholz, of South Hackensack, leads the team with 10 goals, while freshman Madison Tiernan, of Voorhees, leads the way with six assists, according to scarletknights.com.

Senior Jonelle Filigno has five game-winning goals this season. Senior goalie Jess Janosz, of Ringwood, has eight shutouts under her belt this year.

Frances Silva leads West Virginia with 15 goals and 13 assists, according to wvusports.com. Goalie Sara Kean has nine shutouts this season.

“We know West Virginia very well, a former Big East member with us, so we’ve been to Morgantown several times," Crooks said. "I’m very close friends with the staff at West Virginia so we’ll enjoy the trip and I really look forward to the preparation.”

Rutgers and West Virginia are former rivals in the Big East from 1996-2011. West Virginia leads the all-time series, 11-4-1, according to the University.

West Virginia left the conference two years ago to join the Big 12. The founding members of the Big East then left the league and formed their own conference, leaving the remaining members to form the American Athletic Conference. Rutgers will join the Big 10 next year.

Rutgers is unseeded in the tournament. The winner of Friday’s game will face either Virginia Tech, a top-4 overall seed, or the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC). Boston University, Harvard, Santa Clara and California are also in the region.

Should Rutgers advance to the final four, the Scarlet Knights could play Central Florida, who defeated Rutgers in penalty kicks to win the American Athletic Conference title this weekend.

ACC champion Florida State snagged the overall No. 1 seed, while Virginia and North Carolina are the other No. 1 seeds.

The first four rounds of the tournament are played on college campuses.

The semifinals will be held Dec. 6 at Wakemed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. The College Cup is two days later in the same location.